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Hitchens curbstomps Friel

I’m not a huge fan of Christopher Hitchens, generally; he’s arrogant, boorish and often far too pleased with himself. I get enough of that looking in the mirror to want to spend my free time on someone else doing it. There’s also his lurch to the political right in recent years; he’s probably centre-right more than right, to be honest, but he’s still to the right of me, which makes his politics occasionally distasteful. Something I saw this morning, though, has utterly redeemed him in my eyes, at least for now. This comes courtesy of the righteous PZ; cheers, Professor!
Hitch was invited onto an execrable radio show hosted by a class-A douchebag named Todd Friel; the show is, appropriately enough, called Wretched Radio, and was a replacement for Way of The Master Radio. The Way of the Master, in case you’ve been lucky enough never to have heard of it, is the evangelism program created and headed by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. Yes, Ray “Bananas prove God” Comfort; the same Ray Comfort whose understanding of science and logic is so miniscule because he thinks faith can fill in where he doesn’t get it; the same Ray Comfort who blamed poor sales of his book on an Atheist conspiracy.

Anyway. Comfort’s douchenozzle status aside, we can see that Todd Friel is pushing an agenda from the outset; he’s trying to get the famous Atheist to read from his script and “admit” that under circumstance A, he would think B, etc, and then OMG! Teh Hitch haz teh god-beliefness!!11One! Basically, he’s out for a propaganda coup to wave at believers and use as a weapon against Atheists.

And this is where my new respect for the Hitch comes into play. He refuses to follow the script, he sabotages the process at every turn using good old fashioned logic and Enlightenment values.

9 Responses to “Hitchens curbstomps Friel”

Thanks for posting this, mate. Totally slipped under my radar — as has far too many things just recently.

This is a perfect example of what I admire most about Hitch. Like you, I have issues with his politics, but his grasp of all things theological — and the way in which he applies them — is truly inspiring.

Mike you first class moron. You must be the fellow whose going to outline this alternative history where the bureaucratisation of DDT didn’t murder tens of millions of black kids.

I don’t think you ought to be making judgements on history unless you can get that right. Face it. You are a third-rate nutjob.

Mike Sez: You’re not coming across as any smarter over here than you were at the Bathtub, you know. Puking lies across the page only serves to make you look silly and impotent. Go back to bothering someone who’s got the patience to deal with you and the facts to give you the spanking you so richly deserve, you third rate hack.

I think the response that RD offers to Cretins Creationists (sorry, they’re only a few letters apart, after all!) is itself rather devastating – he basically says he doesn’t consider it anything more than a PR exercise for them, and that he won’t give them the “oxygen of respectability”. Ouch.

Thanks for the link!

amazingkrissaid

He only made one mistake, which is plainly the stupidest one he could make in this instance: Engaging Christopher Hitchens in a debate. Hitchens might be a lot of bad things, but often he’s invited to be. Todd Friel seems to get confused about the meaning of the discussion. If he is maintaining an idea about what Hitchens’ response would be according to actions spoken of in the Bible.
Really, in saying “what if”, even facetiously, Friel is allowing the precedence of it being a dialogue about fiction. He can’t be surprised by any response Hitchens gives. Strangely, an honest answer is something Friel can’t accept, nor can he give in regards to the sick and starving.
I would like to think of myself as intelligent, but based on what I have seen, I would lose the argument for the sun being round against Hitchens. Imagine if I took a stance against him where he had full conviction and several points of approach summoned over years of research and thought.

Todd Friel actually scares me a little as a person, because he is really confident in his cozy, smug manner. If Friel had his way, this planet would be covered with filthy grovelling slaves to a singular thought. Humility seems to be something this good Christian lacks when talking to non-believers. That certainty that some Christians have that they’re God’s special little children tends to vanish after a tragedy in their lives, so I hope Todd continues to have a good life and do it quietly.
Perhaps if someone else were in the hotseat, they would not be able to handle themselves as well as Mr. Hitchens. Friel’s constant use of “sir” to address the Hitch makes me want to punch him in the face. You say it out of respect, Friel, you weiner.
As is often said: “Thank God for Christopher Hitchens”. Why do Christians always say he hates God? He doesn’t even believe in Him.